It’s Party Time!

Political parties, that is…with all this hubbub about the Presidential nominations and party conventions, I started wondering: How did this whole tradition of having huge conventions get started?

The party conventions started in 1831 when the Anti-Masonic party held a national convention, and it seemed like such a great idea that the other political parties began holding their own. The reason it seemed like such a great idea was because when you have everyone in the same room it is much easier to debate who the nominee should be rather than trying to get everyone on the same page from across the nation (remember, this was in the early 1800′s…no long distance phone calls!).

When the conventions first started out, the delegates from each state genuinely did not know who was going to come out as the presidential nominee! It took 49 ballots to elect Franklin Pierce in 1852! These days, we pretty much know who is going to be nominated way before the convention actually happens but it is still exciting to watch all the speeches in support of your nominee.